My Mission and Your Task

How simply and how sweetly, yet most powerfully, our beloved Swami explains, cajoles, and inspires us to understand His reason for being here and our own essential responsibility.

It is festival time everyday here, at Prasanthi Nilayam; it is year-round Dasara [the ten day festival]. Yet, to show that it is desirable to value tradition and observe ancient and well-established rites, this festival is celebrated at this place. When the fruit grows, it is filled with sweetness. Even the Margosa fruit loses its bitterness and turns sweet when it ripens. So, too, the ultimate destiny of man, however hard or bitter he may be now, is to ripen and turn sweet. Everyone will shed bitterness and turn sweet; there is no doubt. The madhura (sweet) taste will then win for them the Lord of Mathura (Krishna).

I am not very happy when I hoist this Prasanthi [supreme peace] flag on this building; I will be happy only when each one of you hoists it and keeps it flying on the mansion of your heart. Then only can you enjoy peace, contentment, and purity. Grow the twin wings of love and faith, then you can soar freely in the sky of the Lord’s grace.

You can see the Lord only through His wonders. His laws are unique and mysterious. There is no use arguing about them, for experience is the only proof of their reality. You taste them, therefore they are real. Do not spend your intelligence in devising crooked queries. The mystery of Avatar is beyond the reach of intelligence. It can be grasped only by means of genuine faith. It cannot be reached by logic. The karmendriyas and the jnanendriyas (sense organs of action and perception) are useless instruments for this, since the body, mind, and intelligence are of the category, “seen,” not of the category, “seer.” To see the seer, the inner vision has to be cultivated. So long as you feel you are separate, you cannot see the whole. Vyakti (individual) can never see the Shakti (supreme power).

Attachment to any body is not desirable

When the Lord appears in person, even then doubt assails. It is of the very nature of things! I utter no meaningless word; I do no purposeless deed. I plan no action without significance. I never engage in unholy activities. I need nothing. My joy consists in fulfilling your aims, in making you reach the goal. The one thing that I ask for is the love-filled heart. Believe, hold fast without entangling yourselves in a mesh of empty explanations and imaginary arguments; that is the way to profit.

Do not develop attachment to this body. Why, attachment to any body is not desirable. This hand gives you things, but My hand is that which creates all this. That is My body. My course is unique, different from all that you know. I do not identify Myself with anything. Ice is water, water is ice. Saguna [with qualities] is nirguna [without qualities], nirguna is this saguna [the One without qualities in this form.]

You may fall into the quagmire of doubt: “Rama came, Krishna came, Sai Baba came, and this Puttaparthi Sai Baba comes and challengingly declares that He is all these! How can this be?” You can never understand this phenomenon—that is what you need to grasp. I am incomprehensible. You will see the world coming here in about a year or two. Remember that in no previous yuga [age] did the people get so many clear intimations of the nature of Avatar as now; you are indeed fortunate. The Lord’s form can be perceived only by means of the eye of prema [love] or the eye of jnana [knowledge] or the eye of yoga, not the eye of sensual activity.

The Lord wants a pure heart

The Kaliyuga [Iron Age] is, in reality, very holy. You, too, are very fortunate. You have the chance to see, touch, and converse with the Avatar or the Lord. The Avatars are not ten; there are very many in number. You must distinguish between those who are born as parts of divinity, as imbued with the divine essence, as messengers of divine mission, as instruments of divine will and purpose, and Avatars. 

Parashurama is not an Avatar in the real sense. The Avatars that have come and gone have all cut down trees because they are infested by white ants; but this Avatar is different and unique. Now the white ants are removed; the tree is saved, protected, fostered, and encouraged to grow. I am not inclined to punish; I am the goldsmith who repairs and reshapes broken ornaments. Rama came as the embodiment of sathya, dharma, and shanti (truth, virtue, and peace). Krishna came as the personification of prema (love). Now the embodiment of all the four is needed, for, at the present time, knowledge has increased beyond character.

You do not realize how much the Lord feels for your sake. He is concerned about your wantonness and willful disregard of His words, for He is interested in your keeping your hearts pure and unblemished. I am very anxious to make you all reach the goal. My task is to purify your hearts. If you engage yourself in the constant meditation on the name of the Lord with devotion, humility, and faith, the Lord will stand at the door of your prayer room, awaiting your wishes. Only, you should not allow your mind to waver. Genuine yearning will make your heart pure.

What is important for you is your own experience. What is your basis for understanding the Divine? It is your own ananda (bliss), felt and tasted by you. You say, He saved one Draupadi from ignominy, one Ahalya from petrification, one Prahlada from torture, one Gajendra from death [all characters from epics]; but, do you know how many more such have been blessed similarly through grace? The stream of grace is ever-flowing fast and full; that grace has no limit. But, you see it as limited.

The three activities of the Lord

The Lord’s activities are: creation, preservation, and dissolution. They are the characteristic attributes of the Lord. His aims are all satwic (pious), for the protection and the welfare of the world. My exultation is Mine, My prompting is Mine. I will never abide by another’s likes or dislikes. I do not pay heed to such. I am the witness of everyone and everything. All are in My control; then, who can tell Me what to do? In a few years, years that can be counted on one’s fingers, all of you will realize that I am the embodiment of all shaktis (powers).

The wise, the inquiring, and the suffering will gather here from all parts of the world. Have the fixity of hold; say, “Whether I succeed in getting from you the external fruit or not, I shall never give up.” Do not get dejected when suffering comes and estrange yourself from the Lord, blaming Him for it. The loss will be yours and the repentance will be agonizing.

You have no hunger. If you have genuine hunger I will not keep you suffering from it. Churn the mind and collect the butter and melt it in the yearning of the heart. When the butter has not melted, the reason is the warmth of the yearning is insufficient.

I do not appreciate your extolling Me, describing My glory. State the facts. That produces joy. It is sacrilege to state more or less. Demand from Me as your right, the removal of your sufferings. Give me your heart and ask for My heart. If you give Me only your word, you will get only a word in return. I give you just what you ask for, remember!

Sweetness arises from suffering

When sufferings come, why do you estrange yourselves from the Lord? He gives you suffering for your good, for the advancement of your devotion. If suffering is granted, you seek shanti (peace); you search for the knowledge of the mystery; you go to ten persons and they each tell you some aspect of the truth. Without suffering, sweetness cannot arise! When you suffer, if you feel, “The Lord is no longer mine,” and stray away, the Lord, too, will declare, “He is no longer Mine!” Beware.

Wherever you are, when you wholeheartedly seek to do namaskaram (obeisance) to Me, My feet are there before you! “Sarvathah paani paada—Hands and feet everywhere,” it has been announced. “Lord, do you not hear My prayer?” if you feel poignantly, My ears are there! “Don’t you see, O Lord?” if you cry out, My eyes are there that instant. Rama, Krishna, Shirdi Sai, this Sathya Sai Baba: that form is so, this form is thus—why all such misgivings and doubts? The body is the same, only the dress worn is different. Do not be led away into the morass by others.

The Lord will never deviate from the word; it may be that you take Me to mean something else. It is My will that happens always; it is My sankalpa that is being worked out at all times. Sankalpas are of three different types: yochana sankalpas, the decision arrived at after long deliberation; manana sankalpa, the decision taken after the desire to do arises; and swasankalpa, where the wish and the fulfillment are like the sound of the shot and hitting the target, both happening at the same instant.

Do namasmarana with every breath

Do not slander or abuse others or your own selves as weak, sinful, wicked, or low. When you do so, you are slandering or abusing Me, who resides in them and you. All are of the divine nature of the atma (individualized divinity); all are pure and holy. Some might have erred in using the intelligence and discrimination that the Lord has given and so may be guilty of “mistakes”; they are not, therefore, “sinful.” To condemn oneself as, “I am a sinner born of sin” is itself the direst sin!

Use your intelligence and march on putting one milestone after another behind you! Practice namasmarana (remembrance of Lord’s name) steadily so that it becomes as automatic and as necessary as breathing. Of what benefit is it to be in the same stage of sadhana (spiritual practice) forever? Take the form you like, the name you love, and do japam (repetition of the name) and dhyanam (meditation) and no evil thought will arise; wicked thoughts will flee. When they have fled, what remains is the atmaswarupa (embodiment of divinity).

You must lead your lives according to My words, without the slightest modification. First have faith and then the experience is granted. Even in the case of the previous Avatars, that is the order of events, is it not? You worship with faith and you experience grace. Faith results in grace, without your being aware of it. You must take in the medicine I give and also follow the diet I prescribe and avoid the things I prohibit.

I always act calmly. I never hurry. I do say, “Let it be so” to every request of yours. You have come into this world to reach the Lord. Ignorant of that purpose, you have hoisted on your head the weight of illusion and you are struggling to unload it, suffering under its weight. What is the use of running after external pleasures and temporary joy? So long as you are caught in this avidya (ignorance) you can never taste the bliss of realization; you cannot even recognize it, much less attain it. But, if you are patient and calm, I shall grant you joy without fail. Do not yield to despair.

Even the infant lotus buds will bloom in their own good time. By the cumulative effect of the good done in many previous births, you have secured this fortune; you do not know how much you have gone through, but I know! And whether you know or not, I shall certainly give you what you need.

Do not treat the body with contempt

You get the body through the karma (actions) of the past; you get the ‘type of character’ according to the vasanas (tendencies) cultivated in the past. The body is the result of prarabdha karma (to be exhausted in the present life); the guna [human characteristic] is the product of sanchita karma (which is stored to experience in future lives). Do not delude yourself that you are the body, or be fascinated into an attachment for it. But, it is your task to guard it from harm and keep it in good trim. For, is it not with it that you are imbibing the exhilaration of the bliss of the Lord, the majesty of the Lord?

Therefore, do not deride the body or treat it with contempt. That equipment is intended for your journey toward the Lord; it is the chariot of the Lord; do not neglect or keep it in disrepair. “Oh, this is my fate, my own past punishing me, I must go through it and suffer it, I cannot escape it;” thus thinking, people get disheartened. If it is so inescapable, what is the use of prayer, of japam, of meditation, or of the ritual of worship?

Win the grace of the Lord—and all the accumulated burden will be burnt to ashes in a moment! Why blame the Lord for the “writing on your forehead?” It is you who wrote there and it is you who must wipe out the script. The evil you do, ‘writes’ while the good you do ‘wipes’! Let your mind dwell on the Lord, and the mist of the past births will melt before the rays of that sunrise; if you do not project those rays, the mist will thicken into darkness.

Don’t deprive yourself of the joy in store

While in the previous body, I had said, “I will come again after eight years.” Dikshit has written it down as if I said that I will appear as an eight-year-old! That is a mistake. Having cast off that body on Vijayadashami Day in 1918, I granted actual darshan [sight of a holy person] off and on to various bhakthas [devotees] for about six years. Once, I appeared before Abdul Baba and told him, “The body has been disposed off; but, who can dispose Me off?” I had revealed to Abdul Baba the news of My coming advent. But, do not waste your time in arguments about the identity, whether this is He or He could be this! Believe only as much as you have known; never deny the joy you have derived or deprive yourselves of the joy in store.

Worship, offerings, incense, waving of lights—these are all preliminary steps, the first few rungs in the ladder. If you are forever on the alphabet, when will you learn to spell and read words and sentences? Does the Lord need the things you offer? Does He require articles of comfort or luxury? No, it is you who need them! Does He live upon the food you place before Him? Remember, it is the person who goes beyond the externals that wins the victory. The Lord is not pleased with externals; He searches for the feelings, the internal urges.

I do not want the flowers and fruits and the miscellaneous packets that you bring in your hands when you come to Me. Come with your hands empty, saying, “What can I give You that has not come from You Yourself? When You gave me this heart, it was clean and pure. Now, after preparing in that vessel the food for life lived thus far, I am offering it to You as clean and pure as when You gave it to me, after I have removed all traces of the vasanas or smells of the things cooked in it.” Say that, and offer that heart.

Cultivate kinship through devotion

How long are you to stagnate in the same primary class of patram, pushpam, phalam, and toyam (leaf, flower, fruit, and water)? Keep in the patram of the body the fruit, viz., the heart, and the flower viz., the mind, and the toyam, water, welling from the eyes; then, grace will descend on you without fail. Let the hands be empty but the heart be full. Cultivate the kinship of the heart through devotion and faith. Reduce these external attachments and demonstrations. What I seek is your joy, your happiness, your mental peace, and your unfailing courage and resolution.

You are indeed more fortunate than the rishis (sages), the vanaras [monkeys] and the gopis (Krishna’s devotees). Your chances are greater, you get darshan, sparshan, and sambhashan (seeing, touching, and conversing with the Lord), all three. Therefore, do not ask for the fulfillment of paltry desires; ask, “Make me eternal, absolute, nithyam and sathyam.”

I have started the work for which I have come. Till now I was engaged in collecting materials like iron, cement, brick, lime, and the rest. Now the foundation has been firmly set in concrete and the building has to rise. That structure of Mine will cover the entire universe. No longer can this prayer hall or the auditorium now being erected hold the people who will gather. The sky alone can be the big enough shed. Hereafter, there are no stops! Within a short period, you will witness many miraculous events. Even while you are wondering, this Puttaparthi will be transformed into Mathura.

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 2, October 1961